Aerial Video Footage of New York Taken By RC Plane

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Aerial Video Footage of New York Taken By RC Plane

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 23, 2010 @04:39PM from the make-friends-in-law-enforcement dept.

kkleiner writes with this fun bit from Singularity Hub: "Expert remote control pilot Raphael 'Trappy' Pirker recently took his 54 inch Zephyr model plane on a harrowing tour of Manhattan and the surrounding area. The best part: his RC vehicle was fitted with a camera that wirelessly transmitted an amazing recording of everything it saw – Pirker was piloting his craft with this visual feed. As you can see in the video, the results were spectacular. The plane looks to be flying within a few feet of buildings and whizzing past bridges with ease. You have to check out around 2:01 when he starts to buzz right by the Statute of Liberty."

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Scary? by AaxelB · 2010-12-23 16:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

Quite honestly, I'm surprised this didn't cause some sort of panic...
1. Re:Scary? by Mr.+Freeman · 2010-12-23 17:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The sad thing is that I'm not surprised they showed up. People can't even fly an RC plane around without someone calling the cops. The terrorists have won, we're all terrified of everything now.
  
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  -1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
2. Re:Scary? by Anubis350 · 2010-12-23 18:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Heh, he apparently was flying from ~3 blocks from my house. The city's emergency command center is only a few blocks away too, on the site of the old red cross building, and of course there's the bridges and lots of traffic on them and the BQE and FDR, plus pedestrians and boats... so it's not surprising that an long range aerial display like this would at least be checked up on. They didn't stop them though, so I'm not really worried about authorities overstepping their boundaries in this case....
  
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  "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
3. Re:Scary? by Gordonjcp · 2010-12-23 21:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  How do you know that they didn't show up because one of them is into RC models?
  An over-reaction would have been arresting the guy and throwing him in the clink until they could figure out a way to interpret a law in such a way as to say he'd broken it. Simply going and having a look isn't an over-reaction. There are a lot of risks involved in flying model aircraft around a city, and even without "security theatre" it's probably worth checking out what's going on and making sure it's not some twat who's just bought a gigantic model aircraft off eBay and is trying to learn how to fly it in a crowded park ;-)
Re:Who gives a shit? by gblackwo · 2010-12-23 16:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

It has been modified and tested at a range of 27 miles, with a supposed max operating range of 120. That's news for nerds.
Nice... but by countertrolling · 2010-12-23 17:16 · Score: 4, Insightful

Way to many edits. Destroyed the flow

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For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Re:Who gives a shit? by freeweed · 2010-12-23 17:40 · Score: 4, Insightful

You know how every few months someone posts yet another video of guys taking video from high altitude balloons, and we all yawn because we've seen it a dozen times or more?
This is the exact opposite of that.

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Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Re:More Details here... by jack2000 · 2010-12-23 17:52 · Score: 2, Insightful

What are you people? MAD? It's an RC plane, It's a toy, it's a remote controlled piece of plastic and foam.
Terrorism? I'd be more scared of the loonies living in America right now than the damn terrorists.
Argh! by Phoenix666 · 2010-12-23 18:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

What sheep Americans have become! A guy does a cool, harmless thing like fly a model airplane over the East River and suddenly everybody on this board is biting their fingernails about whether the government will *allow* us to do such a thing. The government does not *allow* us to do anything; in this country, it's what we, the People, allow the government to do that's important. We allow them do very specific, limited things at our sufferance. Everything else we do at our pleasure and the government can fuck off if it doesn't like it.

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
1. Re:Argh! by Fantastic+Lad · 2010-12-23 18:38 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I like your version of reality better than the one I live in. I'd sign up in a heartbeat if I felt you could deliver. :(
  -FL
Re:DHS by 0123456 · 2010-12-23 18:57 · Score: 4, Insightful

Morons, sometimes we are saved because the idiot with an islamist terrorist idea is not that smart - like the timsquare bomber. This moron has made the perfect equipment for them and is now going to sell it as well. This is not so funny.
Absolutely. No-one should be allowed to sell anything that might be useful to a terrorist.
Like cars. Or gas canisters.
Or underwear.
Re:DHS by PatPending · 2010-12-23 19:12 · Score: 3, Insightful

Or box cutters. Or shoes.

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What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Re:F*(K the panic do something awesome by serbanp · 2010-12-23 19:35 · Score: 5, Insightful

I don't mind them doing it, but this is insane, especially when doing it in an area highly sensitized to flying missiles/planes.
It only takes a few assholes in the government or the legislative to imagine such a plane flying with a dangerous payload (explosives, dirty rad material etc) to ban R/C flying planes, forcing me and so many others who enjoy this hobby to simply stop.
Think it can't happen? They did it already once with a whole class of model rockets...
Re:F*(K the panic do something awesome by bigstrat2003 · 2010-12-23 19:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

That doesn't make this activity insane. That makes the governmental idiots insane.

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"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
"Harrowing?" by AxeTheMax · 2010-12-23 19:44 · Score: 3, Insightful

How was this incident "harrowing"? Was the land surface of Manhattan torn up to several inches deep? Were people's feelings deeply and permanently hurt by this flight? Or is this another journalist using a long word that he/she does not actually have any idea of the meaning of but thinks it makes them sound good?

See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/harrow
Re:F*(K the panic do something awesome by Eunuchswear · 2010-12-23 21:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

No. It makes the electorate insane.
You get the government you want.

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Watch this Heartland Institute video
Re:Question by wesleyjconnor · 2010-12-23 22:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

TSA outside hobby stores, one step at a time...

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http://www.awfullybigmoustache.com
Re:F*(K the panic do something awesome by ItsJustAPseudonym · 2010-12-24 03:35 · Score: 3, Insightful

You are correct that the electorate is insane. As a result, we get the government that the media and the people with money shove down our throats.
Re:F*(K the panic do something awesome by S.O.B. · 2010-12-24 03:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

No. It makes the electorate insane.
You get the government you want.
The electorate doesn't matter. Regardless of who we vote for we get the government the corporations and lobbyists want.

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Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.